The Punjab Police achieved a major breakthrough in the minor kidnap case after they arrested one of the main accused on Monday. Rajwinder Singh alias Ghali,who had allegedly opened fire during the abduction,was picked up from Pihiani village in Uttar Pradeshs Hardoi district.

The Faridkot Police on Monday also arrested Kulwinder Kaur and Nishu Arora,both residents of Faridkot,for their alleged roles in the minor kidnap case. The girl was allegedly kidnapped on September 24.

Kulwinder Kaur had been called by the police earlier for questioning. We have formally arrested her today as there is an evidence of her being in contact with Nishan Singh before and after the kidnap. Same stands for Nishu Arora, SSP Faridkot Gurpreet Singh Toor said.

Police also maintained that main accused Nishan Singh,who had allegedly kidnapped the girl,had called Kulwinder Kaur to Chandigarh on September 20 and paid her Rs 50,000,which she along with Nishu had used to buy clothes and other necessities. The duo,along with Nishans mother,Navjot Kaur,allegedly planned the kidnapping.

In another significant development,police on Monday stated that the letter,they had received and allegedly written by the minor girl, seems to have been written under duress. The statement is in direct contrast to an earlier one,in which,police had stated that the girl had willingly written the letter. It seems that the girl had written this letter under pressure while she was in Delhi. This is what we have been able to make so far from the forensic and experts testing of the letter, IG Bathinda Zone,N S Dhillon said.

With the arrests,however,the total number of people in the police net has risen to five. Police,however,are yet to trace the main accused,Nishan Singh,and have published his picture in all national papers and are even offering a Rs 1 lakh reward for information on him.

On Monday,the president of the Peoples Party of Punjab Manpreet Singh Badal participated in a dharna organised by the Goondagardi Virodhi Saanjhi Action Committee,which has been protesting against the state police for its inability to locate the minor girl. My daughter is also the same age as that of the girl and I see despair and sadness around me. How will our daughters step out of their homes when elements like Nishan Singh roam about freely, Manpreet said.

Attacking the police,he added: The worse is that I see a sense of sympathy for this boy in the hearts of certain policemen and local politicians and it is the result of this sympathy that the boy has not been arrested so far.

Meanwhile,commenting on the slow progress of the case,Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said a team under the Bathinda IG was following certain important leads,which cannot be disclosed at this moment. He added that no Akali leader has or would be allowed to meddle in the case.